The impact of antenatal massage practice on intrapartum massage application and their associations with the use of analgesics during labour : Sub-analysis of a randomised control trial.

Background: Massage during labour is one form of intrapartum non-pharmacological pain relief but it is not known whether the frequency of practicing these massage techniques among couples during the antenatal period could enhance the effectiveness of intrapartum massage. This study was to evaluate the association between compliance of antenatal massage practice with intrapartum application and their impact on the use of analgesics during labour.

Methods: This was a sub-analysis of a childbirth massage programme which was carried out in two public hospitals with total births of around 8000 per year.

Systematic Selection of Reference Genes for the Normalization of Circulating RNA Transcripts in Pregnant Women Based on RNA-Seq Data.

RNA transcripts circulating in peripheral blood represent an important source of non-invasive biomarkers. To accurately quantify the levels of circulating transcripts, one needs to normalize the data with internal control reference genes, which are detected at relatively constant levels across blood samples. A few reference gene candidates have to be selected from transcriptome data before the validation of their stable expression by reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

Is the policy of restrictive episiotomy generalisable? A prospective observational study.

Objective: To assess whether the policy of restrictive episiotomy could be safely implemented in Chinese population, and whether perineal length was related to risk of perineal tear during spontaneous vaginal delivery.

Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted between November 2007 and February 2008. A restrictive approach of episiotomy was implemented in those Chinese women who carried an uncomplicated singleton cephalic presenting pregnancy in labour.

Hong Kong Chinese women's experiences of vaginal examinations in labour.

Objective: to explore women's experiences during vaginal examinations in labour.

Design: qualitative with phenomenological approach. Data were collected by tape-recorded open-ended interviews during the early postnatal period.

Nurses' knowledge of and compliance with universal precautions in an acute care hospital.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to investigate the nurses' knowledge of and compliance with Universal Precautions (UP) in an acute hospital in Hong Kong. A total of 450 nurses were randomly selected from a population of acute care nurses and 306 were successfully recruited in the study. The study revealed that the nurses' knowledge of UP was inadequate.